- Dhruv Consultancy Services is an infrastructure consultancy that designs and supervises the building of India’s roads, bridges, and railways - it is the engineer the government hires to make sure a highway or metro line is planned correctly and built to last. Founded in 2003 as a family-run firm in Navi Mumbai, it worked predominantly in Maharashtra for its initial 16 years before breaking into national highway work for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, a move that eventually made it one of the top five highway consultants in the country. Its recurring approach is to win work by scoring higher technical marks than rivals in government bids - marks earned through a combination of in-house equipment, specialised software, and experienced engineers - and then to use that public-sector credibility to open doors into railways, metros, airports, and international markets.
Business segments
A single engine - infrastructure consultancy - that spans five project types, all sold to government clients through the same technical-bidding model and delivered by the same in-house teams.
1. Highway and expressway consultancy: the core engine
The company designs and supervises India’s largest road projects for government agencies, earning fees at every stage from feasibility studies through construction to maintenance.
- Paid for brainwork, not construction - it provides Detailed Project Reports (feasibility studies and engineering designs), Authority’s Engineer supervision (watching over contractors on behalf of the government), Independent Engineer certification, and Project Management Consultancy, covering the full lifecycle of a highway.
- Technical scores win the work - government contracts are awarded on quality-cum-cost basis, and the company consistently scores 95-plus out of 100 on the technical evaluation, above the industry average of 92-93, because it owns specialised inspection equipment and employs retired government engineers who understand exactly what evaluators look for.
- The equipment is the differentiator - it owns a Mobile Bridge Inspection Unit imported from Austria, a Falling Weight Deflectometer for testing pavement strength, retroreflectometers that measure road-sign visibility, and Automatic Traffic Counters installed at over 500 locations, all of which boost its technical score and reduce reliance on rented gear.
- Bigger tickets, bigger roads - the average assignment has grown from roughly Rs. 3 crore to Rs. 11-13 crore as the company shifted from two-lane DPR work to supervising six-lane and eight-lane expressways, including the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, the longest in India.
- Nearly all government, nearly all India - about 95% of revenue comes from government bodies like NHAI, MoRTH, and state public works departments, with projects spread across 23 states, though Maharashtra has historically contributed roughly 60%.
2. Railways and metro consultancy: the second rail
The company has taken its supervision and project-management skills from highways into rail and metro systems, acting as the client’s representative on station and track projects.
- General Consultant is the entry ticket - it won its first major rail contract as General Consultant for West Central Railway, a role that means it provides end-to-end support including design review, contract management, and bid-process assistance, effectively standing in for the railway’s own project team.
- Metro work runs on MMRDA - it has provided Project Management Consultancy for multiple Mumbai Metro lines (1, 5, 7, and 3A), and is now supervising the integration of bus, auto, and pedestrian access at six stations on Line 5.
- Rail projects are spreading geographically - active railway assignments are running in Jharkhand, Kota in Rajasthan, and Salem in Tamil Nadu, including a PMC contract covering 17 stations and their tracks.
3. Ports and urban infrastructure consultancy: the diversification layer
The company applies its supervision and planning expertise to dry ports, municipal roads, and urban flyovers, extending the same government-client model into new infrastructure types.
- Ports began with dry ports - it entered the sector in 2016 with the Jalna and Wardha Dry Port projects and has since won supervision contracts for maintenance across four packages at JNPT, covering 44 kilometres in Maharashtra.
- Urban work is municipal and piecemeal - it prepares Development Plans for towns, manages master-plan road works for Indore Municipal Corporation, and provides PMC for integrated double-decker flyovers like the one at Pune University Junction for PMRDA.
- New adjacencies are being tested - the company is actively exploring solid-waste management and solar-power EPC projects through joint bidding with associate firms, though these remain early-stage.
4. Aviation consultancy: the newest frontier
The company entered airport infrastructure in FY26 with a small first contract and is bidding for larger expansion projects, using its highway-earned technical credentials to cross-sell.
- First airport job is a taxiway - it was appointed by Maharashtra Airport Development Company to provide consultancy for constructing roughly 1,950 metres of link taxiways at MIHAN, Nagpur, a Rs. 1.63 crore contract spread over 20 months.
- Bidding for bigger runways - it has submitted bids for over seven airport projects and expects full airport expansion assignments to carry ticket sizes of Rs. 10-15 crore, with the Navi Mumbai Airport vertical in its sights.
5. Wayside amenities: the BOT experiment
The company is moving beyond pure consultancy into operating highway rest stops, where it will develop, run, and maintain facilities under a 15-year lease.
- A subsidiary was created for the first site - in June 2026 it incorporated Verul Drivehub Private Limited, owning 55%, specifically to execute a Letter of Award from National Highway Logistics Management Limited for a wayside amenity on NH-52 in Maharashtra.
- A dozen sites are in the pipeline - the company is already participating in 12 wayside-amenity projects across Maharashtra and Rajasthan, offering master planning, architectural design, and PMC for construction and operations.
International operations
The company bids for multilateral-bank-funded projects in Africa and Southeast Asia through a UK subsidiary, selecting only work where the World Bank or similar agencies pay directly.
- The UK subsidiary is the bidding vehicle - Dhruv International Private Limited, incorporated in February 2024, handles all international work and targets projects funded by the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, World Bank, and Exim Bank, which reduces payment risk.
- Africa is the proving ground - its first international assignment was a design report for Mozambique delivered in seven months, and active contracts now include crash-location design and supervision for ANE in Mozambique and design consultancy for Core Axis Company in Saudi Arabia.
- Shortlisting is the funnel - out of 142 international submissions, it has been shortlisted for 21, and in FY25 alone it submitted 54 Expressions of Interest across 14 countries, with 9 Full Technical Proposals sent to 6 countries.
- Local partners unlock markets - it has formed joint ventures and strategic partnerships with firms in Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Italy, Tanzania, Japan, Mozambique, Ghana, Nepal, Cambodia, and elsewhere to meet local-presence requirements and combine technical expertise with on-the-ground knowledge.
Group structure and partners
A family-led listed company with a single international subsidiary and a newly formed Indian subsidiary for wayside amenities, operating through consortiums where projects demand it.
- The company is led by founder and Non-Executive Director Mr. Pandurang B. Dandawate, with Managing Director Ms. Tanvi T. Auti and two other executive directors from the founding family, alongside a professional C-suite including a CEO, CTO, CFO, and COO.
- Dhruv International Private Limited in the UK is wholly owned and was set up in 2024 to channel all international operations.
- Verul Drivehub Private Limited was incorporated in June 2026 with the company holding a 55% stake, created solely to execute the NHLML wayside-amenity contract on NH-52.
- For specific projects, the company enters consortiums and joint ventures - an existing associate arrangement with IRCLASS supports DPR work, and international JVs have been formed with firms from Italy, Japan, and several African and Asian countries.